Welcome!

For Parents

If you’re a concerned mom or dad, welcome to what many parents have told me is their BEST resource for positive guidance for working with their late talking toddler! Here at teachmetotalk.com you’ll find LOADS of information to help you help your child! If you’re looking for articles to read, click on BLOG from the categories bar on the home page and select the drop down box for a list of specific diagnoses. Scroll down below through the professionals section to read about other features at teachmetotalk.com including my podcast, Therapy Tip of the Week videos, and a whole product line of books and DVDs to teach you how to work with your child who is struggling to learn language.

For Professionals

If you’re a speech-language pathologist, an EI specialist, a developmental therapist, an occupational therapist or any other professional who works with toddlers and young preschoolers with communication challenges, welcome! You’ve come to the right place for the latest, evidenced-based information for working with very young children and their families in early intervention programs.

More than anything else, I want to share PRACTICAL, REAL-LIFE therapy ideas, the same ones I use with my very own clients in my very own thriving private practice. It irks me when I visit a site for SLPs and I get the impression that the therapist might not have chased a busy toddler or played on the floor in a long, long time…

I have a whole product line for parents and professionals who have the same goal as I do: to help toddlers learn to understand and use language.

My DVDs do more than explain evidence-based strategies; you’ll actually SEE therapy clips of sessions. Just so you know, I don’t just show ‘perfect’ clips with ideal clients. You’ll see real- life kids and real-life responses. Many therapists watch the DVDs not only for their own benefit, but use the DVDs for parent-caregiver education. You can let a parent borrow your copy OR, better yet, introduce a strategy by watching a clip together and then implement it during the session with their own child. Click the links below for information about each specific DVD in one post.

I’ve also written three best-selling Therapy Manuals that provide the down and dirty “How To” information that we all look for when we’re purchasing materials. All three books are super resources for homework ideas to share with parents and are filled with charts and “handouts.” You can find a summary of those books in the Product Recommendations post or under individual posts under the SHOP tab on the home page.

Courses

Since 2010, I’ve taught my two courses all over the USA. If you’re looking for a conference schedule, click the tab Conferences on the home page.

Both of those popular courses are now on DVD with ASHA credit! If you’d like that information, click here!

Podcasts

In the fall of 2008, I started my (almost) weekly podcast. At that time I had no idea what a podcast even was, but here I am today, still going strong! SLPs have described the podcast as “a show about all things therapy.” Each show lasts about an hour and topics vary from week to week. Here’s a link to the Podcast page so you can scroll through the show summaries. Some SLPs tell me they started way back at show #1 and have listened sequentially. Parents also listen to topics that interest them. It’s a great way to pass the time if you’re exercising, driving between visits, cleaning your basement, or performing any other task that also allows you the time to “feed your brain.” Listen here at the site, through blogtalkradio.com, or subscribe on iTunes. It’s FREE and fun!

I also LOVE answering emails on my podcast. If you have a tough kid and need some new ideas, shoot me an email and ask me to tackle it on the show. If you’re brave and want to be a guest and discuss it with me yourself, let’s do it! Email me at Laura@teachmetotalk.com so we can get you scheduled!

Therapy Tip of the Week Videos

I get more positive feedback about these little videos than I ever dreamed! Each one is 10 to 15 minutes long and I take a toy or an activity or even a topic (like a holiday) and provide several ideas for therapy activities with toddlers. There’s usually a bit of “teaching” and “theory” mingled in with every day “How To” advice. You can find a whole page of videos here or scroll through the Therapy Tip of the Week posts to read the written summaries too. Both therapists and parents tell me that they found teachmetotalk.com through these videos on YouTube. If that’s you, thanks!

Therapy Guides

In 2013, I started another website for all EI professionals and created several video and pdf packages called Therapy Guides. These are CHEAP videos available for immediate viewing online. Each one is about a topic (like Creating Verbal Routines) or a particular theme (such as Christmas activities). You’ll also receive a 10 – 20 page summary organized in a “homework” format for easy sharing with parents or therapists you’re mentoring. Those videos are located here at www.myei2.com.

Posts

In the years since launching teachmetotalk.com I’ve written hundreds of posts. Originally, I organized them in very distinct categories and grouped them accordingly. After a year or two in, I just wrote from my heart, so by now there are nearly 400 articles here! I’m in the process of updating many of those. With our website upgrade, the formatting of the older posts was also affected. So if you click on a page with random punctuation marks, you’ve found an oldie-but-goodie we’ve not edited yet. I hope you’ll read for content! If you’re looking for a particular topic, please use the SEARCH feature to help you find what you need! Or click the BLOG category for a list of diagnoses and related posts.

One of my favorite things about teachmetotalk.com is ‘meeting’ other SLPs on the site. If you’d like, leave me a comment here or with a specific post that resonates with you. I try to respond to individual emails (I get about 200 a day!), but the best way to reach me is here! Complete a contact form on the home page or leave me a reply. I look forward to hearing from you!

About

Laura Mize is a pediatric speech-language pathologist who specializes in treating young children, ages birth to three, with communication delays and disorders in her private practice in and around Louisville, Kentucky. She earned a B.S. in … [Read More...]